#120 - Springing Forward with Learning Part 2: Redefining Resilience with Russell Harvey
In Part 2, Ryan and Russell move from the foundations of resilience into how it plays out in real organizations and a full on VUCA world... volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Russell introduces VUCA and VUCA Prime and explains why leaders need vision, understanding, clarity and agility to navigate constant change.
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They explore the difference between true resilience and simply becoming numb or calloused, the impact of information overload and smart phones on our nervous systems, and why attention control is now a critical leadership skill. Russell shares how resilient individuals learn to manage their relationship with technology, choose where to place their focus and build support networks that actually nourish them.
The conversation turns to burnout, the long slow impact of endless efficiency drives and “do more with less,” and Russell s invitation to shift from an efficiency culture to an effectiveness culture that still delivers results while honoring human limits. They also touch on history, scarcity thinking, the darker sides of “be yourself” in leadership, and why Russell believes that engaging deeply with resilience is a main route to making business a force for good.
Ryan closes by inviting listeners to get curious about their own resilience and to begin with small, grounded steps... like clarifying a family purpose, resetting their relationship to screens, or starting honest, optimistic conversations at work.
In Part 2 you will hear
• What VUCA really means and how VUCA Prime gives leaders a practical response
• Why vision is less about a statement on the wall and more about real situational awareness and attention control
• The difference between resilience and being numb or calloused, and why emotional intelligence sits at the core of genuine resilience
• How overwhelming levels of information and constant digital stimulation erode our ability to spring forward with learning
• A simple starting point for families... creating a shared purpose and asking “What do we want to be known for as a family”
• Patterns Russell sees in burnout... from years of efficiency drives to the missing human side of continuous improvement
• The case for shifting from efficiency culture to effectiveness culture, and why best practice never gets a chance to embed when people are exhausted
• A brief dive into scarcity mindsets, power, and the darker triad of personality traits that can drive collapse in societies and organizations
• Why Russell places such emphasis on optimism grounded in reality, not toxic positivity, and how to lead more optimistic conversations with your team
• What it is like to work with Russell through one to one coaching, group programs and organizational work, and how the Resilience Wheel and strengths sit at the core
• Russell s hope for his legacy... a world where more leaders and businesses really do act as a force for good
In Part 1 of this conversation, Ryan sits down with UK based resilience coach and facilitator, Russell Harvey, whose mission has been to positively affect one hundred thousand people through his work on resilience, leadership and business as a force for good. In July twenty twenty five, he hit that number and is now exploring his next chapter of purpose.
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Russell shares the story behind becoming The Resilience Coach... from teaching English in Hong Kong and feeling the magic of other peoples light bulb moments, to being made redundant six times and finally deciding to build a practice that centers human behavior, learning and leadership. He and Ryan explore why resilience is not just about pushing through hard times, but about springing forward with learning so that challenges actually change how we live and lead.
They dig into Russell s Resilience Wheel and strengths based coaching, unpacking why your homework is not to fix your weaknesses but to spend more time in the work that energizes you. Along the way, Russell draws a sharp line between genuine resilience and the toxic version that just tells people to keep going and stay positive.
In Part 1 you will hear
• Why Russell set a goal to positively affect one hundred thousand people and what it looked like to actually reach it
• How a year of traveling and teaching in Hong Kong revealed his love for creating light bulb moments in others
• The career journey from learning and development into launching The Resilience Coach after repeated redundancies
• Why strengths based work matters and why your lowest scoring strength is rarely where you should spend most of your time
• How to think about being “good enough” at some tasks so you can spend more time in your natural strengths
• Russell s definition of resilience as springing forward with learning, not just bouncing back to who you were before a challenge
• A tour of the Resilience Wheel... attitude, purpose, confidence, adaptability and agility, support network, self talk and energy
• Why most people only think about resilience once something unpleasant happens and what it looks like to build resilience before that point
• The early signs of toxic resilience at work... “you just need to be resilient and positive”... and why that message is so dangerous
Connect with Russell
• Website... theresiliencecoach.co.uk
• LinkedIn... search Russell Harvey The Resilience Coach
Connect with The Personal Success Podcast
• Subscribe on YouTube... youtube.com/@thepersonalsuccesspodcast
• Learn more about Ryan s coaching work... ryanwattslifecoaching.com
